Prime Minister says government supports construction of the new Tirana Grand Mosque.
TIRANA, Oct. 15 – Albanians celebrated Tuesday the national holiday of Kurban Bajram, as the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Adha is locally known.
Ceremonies started with early morning prayers and distribution of food among families, friends and the poor. Albanian Muslim Community leaders also met with all senior officials and politicians in the country, a regular protocol held each year.
Prime Minister Edi Rama also told the Muslim leaders that he would personally make a small contribution for construction of the new Grand Tirana Mosque. He had earlier expressed the government’s full support for the construction of the new mosque in a park in downtown Tirana.
The Muslim community has long asked for a place to build a large mosque to make sure that on occasions like Bajram people don’t have to pray in the streets. But its location and problems with property rights have turned into a political friction in the country.
Earlier this year, the Muslim Community, a state-sanctioned organization, got permission to build the mosque near the Parliament building on land it owns.
Upon coming to power the new government canceled part of the project linked to the mosque, as it said it opposed private construction of commercial buildings near the mosque site. The religious building was given the go-ahead however, a move welcomed by the community leaders while protested by property owners near the site who had hoped to develop it commercially.
One of the world’s most secular societies, Albania has several national holidays based on religious festivals of four different faiths
